James Wigger

James Wigger was born in 1957 in the US. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon. After a career in graphic design, James Wigger has now turned his attention full-time to his first love, photography. Using vintage cameras, along with the beauty and wonders of a variety of instant films, he is in search of imagery that has more grit, texture and emotion than one can achieve through strictly digital means.

Perfection is not his goal. He has found that what he is looking for is chaos or the introduction of elements that he has little control over. Mood, emotion and texture tend to be his main goals. H wants his photos to appear to have been lost, beaten and worn relics from an earlier age. He is not usually interested in pretty poses, nor making anyone look beautiful. It is more about implied emotion or a feeling. Mystery to him, as in all things, is the preferred method of telling a story. Letting people use their imagination to fill in the gaps appeals to him so much more than telling a complete story.

What truly got him into photography was instant film, most notably the long lamented Polaroid film. Being able to manipulate processes has always been at the center of his love affair with instant film. Due to its ever dwindling supplies though, he has been shooting more and more with expired film. With both the liquid-like instant film and the chaos of expired film he is presented with the necessary challenges of serendipity and chance to deal with.

Using Photoshop as his digital darkroom, he tries to keep his ideas in-camera, rather than pieced together digitally.